Panic buttons in Ayanna Pressley's office were 'torn out' ahead of Capitol riot, chief of staff says

Rep. Ayanna Pressley.
(Image credit: Tom Williams-Pool/Getty Images)

For Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), last week's Capitol attack became even scarier when she got to her office.

As The Boston Globe reports, Pressley had "two reasons to be afraid" when President Trump's supporters stormed into the Capitol building last week: "She has alopecia, an autoimmune disorder" that puts her at high risk for COVID-19, and she's a member of the progressive "Squad" that has long been a target of Trump backers. Death threats have led Pressley and her team to routinely run safety drills over the years, so they had a plan when the attackers started making their way into the Capitol, Pressley's chief of staff Sarah Groh told the Globe.

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Kathryn Krawczyk

Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.